"I am greatly concerned about our private property rights.”
Landowners Encouraged To Learn About New Superhighway Project
11/11/04
By Colleen Schreiber
Livestock Weekly
Copyright 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY — Private property owners should educate themselves about the Trans Texas Corridor Project.
That was the gist of the message delivered by Jack Hunt, president and chief executive officer of the King Ranch, during the recent natural resources and environment committee meeting at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assn. fall meeting.
Trans Texas Corridor, the vision of Governor Rick Perry, was passed during the 78th legislative session.
House Bill 3588 gave the Transportation Commission the authority to create the corridor, an all-Texas superhighway whose plan is to encompass all modes of transportation from tollways for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger bullet trains, to commuter trains and high-speed freight trains. The plan also includes the development of pipelines of all types, and electrical transmission towers as well as gas stations, garages, restaurants, hotels, stores, billboards, warehouses, freight interchange, intermodal transfer areas, passenger train stations, bus stations, parking facilities, dispatch control centers, maintenance facilities, pipeline pumping stations, and toll booths.
The Trans Texas Corridor is the largest engineering project ever proposed for Texas, with a statewide network of corridors stretching 4000 miles and measuring up to a quarter-mile wide. Four routes have been identified as priority segments. These corridors parallel Interstate 35, I-37 and I-69 (proposed) from Denison to the Rio Grande Valley, I-69 (proposed) from Texarkana to Houston to Laredo, I-45 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston, and I-10 from El Paso to Orange.
The legislation, Hunt opined, passed easily because it was promoted on a “feel-good basis, that it would do good things for the state.
“This legislation moved very quickly,” Hunt continued. “I’m not aware of any groups other than one landowner group that even raised questions about it at the time.
“It’s a very complex set of bills, hard to understand, but again, because it sounded good, most people voted for it.”
The purpose of these corridors, he told listeners, is to improve the Texas economy by facilitating the movement of goods throughout the state and avoid congestion in urban areas.
“As such, that means most of these corridors are going to go through rural areas, and that means a lot of very serious implications for rural landowners and ranchers and farmers throughout the state. I am greatly concerned about our private property rights,” he said.
These quarter-mile wide corridors, Hunt explained, will be administered by public entities with broad rights and powers.
“They will be able to condemn land and then release that land on very long-term leases for private use. They will be able to condemn land for these routes without having a specific plan in place. They will be able to condemn land for environmental mitigation without having a specific plan in place, and they also have quick-take powers of condemnation, which basically means they can take your property and you argue about it in court afterwards,” he told listeners.
Hunt said he is most concerned about the role these public entities will play.
“It’s not clear to me what the role of these public entities will be, how they will be managed and controlled, how conflicts of interest among governance groups will be avoided. Their broad powers could have enormous impact on land values. There are a lot of potential conflicts of interest that could affect how these entities do their business,” he said.
“The condemnation powers that the legislation gives these entities are very broad and almost unprecedented,” he opined.
“For example, if there is a corridor that is to go through your property, they can condemn the land and the landowner is penalized by that condemnation. Yet the public entity can turn around and lease that same land to commercial entities that in turn have a chance to profit.”
The plan, Hunt said, talks about a royalty structure for the landowner as an inducement to sell.
“If you read the fine print, it’s so subordinate. There will be a lot of debt associated with these deals, and I don’t think the royalty paid to the landowner will be enough enticement.”
Hunt noted that there is a case before U.S. Supreme Court questioning the ability of public entities to condemn land and then resell it for private use. That case, he noted, could impact whether this legislation can even work.
Another concern Hunt has with the plan is the design of the corridor itself, particularly the part about it being a quarter of a mile wide. He said that would detrimentally impact the value of a landowner’s property.
“If your property is divided by the corridor, you will essentially lose access to the other side of your property. There won’t be a way for you to move back and forth. It’s not like an interstate, where you can have tunnels or underpasses,” he pointed out.
Finally, Hunt told listeners that he’s concerned about the impact these corridors could have on the environment. Hunt spent time on then Governor George Bush’s task force on conservation. One of the big issues was fragmentation.
“Most understand that in order to have good, strong wildlife populations and strong property and resource values, we must find ways to avoid fragmentation. The Trans Texas Corridor plan goes directly against that philosophy.”
Hunt concluded by encouraging all landowners to become educated on the issue. He suggested the website www.CorridorWatch.org as one educational resource. Another is the Texas Department of Transportation website.
“I urge everyone to look into this, and as you meet with your legislators, find out how they voted and see if they really understood what they were voting for.
“This is something that will affect our children and grandchildren, so I think it’s our job to get in front of this issue now, because in 10 or 20 years we could regret it.”
© 2004 Livestock Weekly: www.livestockweekly.com
To search TTC News Archives clickHERE
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog clickHERE
11/11/04
By Colleen Schreiber
Livestock Weekly
Copyright 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY — Private property owners should educate themselves about the Trans Texas Corridor Project.
That was the gist of the message delivered by Jack Hunt, president and chief executive officer of the King Ranch, during the recent natural resources and environment committee meeting at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Assn. fall meeting.
Trans Texas Corridor, the vision of Governor Rick Perry, was passed during the 78th legislative session.
House Bill 3588 gave the Transportation Commission the authority to create the corridor, an all-Texas superhighway whose plan is to encompass all modes of transportation from tollways for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger bullet trains, to commuter trains and high-speed freight trains. The plan also includes the development of pipelines of all types, and electrical transmission towers as well as gas stations, garages, restaurants, hotels, stores, billboards, warehouses, freight interchange, intermodal transfer areas, passenger train stations, bus stations, parking facilities, dispatch control centers, maintenance facilities, pipeline pumping stations, and toll booths.
The Trans Texas Corridor is the largest engineering project ever proposed for Texas, with a statewide network of corridors stretching 4000 miles and measuring up to a quarter-mile wide. Four routes have been identified as priority segments. These corridors parallel Interstate 35, I-37 and I-69 (proposed) from Denison to the Rio Grande Valley, I-69 (proposed) from Texarkana to Houston to Laredo, I-45 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Houston, and I-10 from El Paso to Orange.
The legislation, Hunt opined, passed easily because it was promoted on a “feel-good basis, that it would do good things for the state.
“This legislation moved very quickly,” Hunt continued. “I’m not aware of any groups other than one landowner group that even raised questions about it at the time.
“It’s a very complex set of bills, hard to understand, but again, because it sounded good, most people voted for it.”
The purpose of these corridors, he told listeners, is to improve the Texas economy by facilitating the movement of goods throughout the state and avoid congestion in urban areas.
“As such, that means most of these corridors are going to go through rural areas, and that means a lot of very serious implications for rural landowners and ranchers and farmers throughout the state. I am greatly concerned about our private property rights,” he said.
These quarter-mile wide corridors, Hunt explained, will be administered by public entities with broad rights and powers.
“They will be able to condemn land and then release that land on very long-term leases for private use. They will be able to condemn land for these routes without having a specific plan in place. They will be able to condemn land for environmental mitigation without having a specific plan in place, and they also have quick-take powers of condemnation, which basically means they can take your property and you argue about it in court afterwards,” he told listeners.
Hunt said he is most concerned about the role these public entities will play.
“It’s not clear to me what the role of these public entities will be, how they will be managed and controlled, how conflicts of interest among governance groups will be avoided. Their broad powers could have enormous impact on land values. There are a lot of potential conflicts of interest that could affect how these entities do their business,” he said.
“The condemnation powers that the legislation gives these entities are very broad and almost unprecedented,” he opined.
“For example, if there is a corridor that is to go through your property, they can condemn the land and the landowner is penalized by that condemnation. Yet the public entity can turn around and lease that same land to commercial entities that in turn have a chance to profit.”
The plan, Hunt said, talks about a royalty structure for the landowner as an inducement to sell.
“If you read the fine print, it’s so subordinate. There will be a lot of debt associated with these deals, and I don’t think the royalty paid to the landowner will be enough enticement.”
Hunt noted that there is a case before U.S. Supreme Court questioning the ability of public entities to condemn land and then resell it for private use. That case, he noted, could impact whether this legislation can even work.
Another concern Hunt has with the plan is the design of the corridor itself, particularly the part about it being a quarter of a mile wide. He said that would detrimentally impact the value of a landowner’s property.
“If your property is divided by the corridor, you will essentially lose access to the other side of your property. There won’t be a way for you to move back and forth. It’s not like an interstate, where you can have tunnels or underpasses,” he pointed out.
Finally, Hunt told listeners that he’s concerned about the impact these corridors could have on the environment. Hunt spent time on then Governor George Bush’s task force on conservation. One of the big issues was fragmentation.
“Most understand that in order to have good, strong wildlife populations and strong property and resource values, we must find ways to avoid fragmentation. The Trans Texas Corridor plan goes directly against that philosophy.”
Hunt concluded by encouraging all landowners to become educated on the issue. He suggested the website www.CorridorWatch.org as one educational resource. Another is the Texas Department of Transportation website.
“I urge everyone to look into this, and as you meet with your legislators, find out how they voted and see if they really understood what they were voting for.
“This is something that will affect our children and grandchildren, so I think it’s our job to get in front of this issue now, because in 10 or 20 years we could regret it.”
© 2004 Livestock Weekly:
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, November 11, 2004
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